"She looks so beautiful..." Artemis murmured. A man's voice came from behind her.
"She is your daughter, after all." Artemis turned around with a joking frown.
"You make it sound like I broke my oath, instead of using my essence."
"But the others don't know that, do they? My brother will be upset when he hears of this." The man replied.
"Screw my father. That's why we're letting her grow up in the mortal world, isn't it? And, if worst comes to worst, I will defend you, Poseidon." Artemis told him.
"And I thank you for that. Have you decided on a name yet? I have come up with her middle name."
"Of course. How unprepared do you think I am, my father when Hera asks him why there are rumors of a demigod child of Zeus floating around Olympus?" They both chuckled at that.
"Speaking of demigods, do you know what she shall be since we have used our essences?" Poseidon asked.
"Indeed. She shall remain a simple mortal while she ages normally to eighteen, and then she shall turn into a goddess. There will be nothing my father can do to stop it, lest he kill her when she is a mortal." Artemis told him.
"And what if she joins your hunt? You know she has a chance of being attracted to the Hunt, as she will have an attraction to you."
"I assume she will simply turn into a goddess when she turns eighteen anyway, despite not physically aging. Anyway, what name have you chosen for our daughter? It better not being something stupid, or Chaos help me..." Poseidon chuckled.
"I have chosen Calypso, as she shall be hidden for quite some time. Also, I have a feeling that she shall be just as beautiful as her mother." Artemis blushed, painting her cheeks a golden hue.
"Sometimes, I forget you have had millennia to practice wooing women Poseidon. Anyway, I have chosen the name Persephone for our daughter."
"Persephone Calypso, you shall change the world..." Poseidon whispered, loud enough for the other occupant of the room to hear. Artemis cleared her throat.
"I trust you have arranged a place for her to be hidden in the world?" She asked.
Poseidon broke out of his semi-trance state. "Yes, with a clear-sighted woman named Sally Jackson, in New York. Close enough to the Camp to be able to go there, yet far enough to remain unnoticed by the other gods and goddesses."
"What if she gets hurt while there? You know my brother, always advancing medicine. They will be able to find out her blood has no humanly DNA in it." Artemis asked.
"I can take care of it. If the mortals try to find it, her blood will seem to be the blood of a child of Sally Jackson and a mortal John Doe." Poseidon replied.
"Is this Sally Jackson able to be trusted with the upbringing of out child?" Artemis wondered, unable to be certain if leaving her was the right choice.
"I am sure of it. She is humble, patient, loyal, honest and brave. If my love wasn't already completely given to my true love, this child might've been her's naturally." He replied.
"You aren't regretting anything, are you?" The question seemed simple, but hidden inside was the Moon goddess' fear.
"Never. I swear it on the River Styx." Somehow, the words meant more to her than the lightning that had lit up the sky behind them.
"Good. Because neither do I." Artemis turned to her only child, still only a mere newborn. "You, my daughter, will be watched over wherever the Moon can reach, and wherever there is wilderness untamed." She handed the child to her love, who was ready to flash out.
The last words the father and daughter heard were, "Be safe, my Persephone."
Fourteen Years Later
"Mom, I'm home!" A girl called out, smiling, as she opened the door to her mom's Manhattan apartment. She had just gotten back from archery practice after school.
The girl was four feet and seven inches tall, very short for a girl her age. She had auburn hair, and pale skin. Her face had a few freckles here and there, with a small mouth and a button nose. Most peculiar were her eyes. They were silver - not gray. Pure, shining silver in the irises, only interrupted with a few flecks of sea green dots, which made the eyes even more amazing.
Her breasts weren't well developed, but she hadn't gone through much of puberty yet. She had a skinny figure, but it was the kind that models craved, not the kind that came from anorexia. Her legs were long when compared to her total height, and the lower half of her body was muscular, as she had always loved swimming and climbing whenever she could. Her arms weren't as muscular, even with archery, because she relied on technique more than power.
"Your mom isn't here, Persi!" Persi's smile faded as she heard the voice. "But since you're here, why don't you grab me a beer?" She heard numerous laughs from up the stairs. It must've been poker night. Persi was now frowning, but responded anyway.
"Sure, Gabe!" She responded, fake cheeriness in her voice. Oh, how she despised Gabe Ugliano. The first two syllables of his last name described him, inside and outside. She rushed up the stairs and ran to the fridge, grabbing a beer can for her stepfather. As she gave it to him and walked past him, he called after her.
"Got any money for me? I'm tired of you doing nothing in this house." Persi didn't point out the fact that she had just done something for him, and passed him the five dollars she had as change from the taxi ride home. As she turned around to go to her room, he smacked her butt. She blushed and a tear fell out of her eyes, unnoticed by the laughing men.
"Why don't you just fuck her already?" Perci heard one of the other men ask, Paul, she thought his name was, as she walked away.
"I would, but she'd tell her mom, that bitch Sally, and then she'd tell the cops. It'd be too suspicious for both of 'em to go missing." Gabe responded. Perci then closed the door to her room.
PoV Change - First Person - Persi
'I hate men...' Were the first words I thought when I closed the door. Oh, how I wished my mom was home. 'All men are evil. First, my dad leaves Mom and I, then, Gabe comes along and ruins it even more. I wish Mom had never married that creep.' I wished a lot of things. 'Even at school, all the boys leer at me. And the teachers... Their eyes... Whatever is in them, I don't think it's child friendly...'
I tried to snap out of negative thinking. I just wanted to be with my Mom, the only good thing in my life. I fell asleep waiting.
I woke up to the sound of talking, well, more like shouting. I looked at the tiny digital clock at the foot of my bed. It read 1:42 AM in florescent blue lines. I identified the voices. Gabe and... my mom. "-are! She is my daughter!" That was my mom.
"And she does nothing for this household!" Gabe shouted back. I opened the door to my room and walked out.
"What's going on, Mom...?" I asked. Her head snapped towards me.
"Nothing, sweetie. Go back to your room, okay?" I immediately turned around, intent on following her directions.
"Wait!" I froze at Gabe's voice. "Come here." I obediently walked towards the two arguing people. "We are discussing you doing something useful for once, you fucking bitch."
"Don't talk to her like that, Gabe!" My mom shouted at him. He growled at her.
"I will talk to her however the fuck I want, you useless slut!" I gasped.
"Don't yell at my mom!" He whirled around, and all of the sudden, I was on the floor, my cheek stinging and my head ringing. 'He hit me...' I thought. Sure, he had hit me before. It was one of his favorite pastimes. But never in front of my mother. I heard my mother's gasp distantly, and then a scream while my vision was blurry.
When it cleared again, I saw my mother on the ground, in a pool of blood. There was a knife through her left arm. 'One of the kitchen knives...' I noted dully. Meanwhile, Gabe was staring down at her, unbuckling his pants. As silently as I could, I crept behind him, and grabbed a pan that was in the sink, which Gabe had no doubt left there for my mother to wash.
I twirled around, and jumped as high as I could, then brought the pan down as hard as I could. I waited a few seconds for him to fall... but he never did. He turned around slowly, his eyes wide with anger, and his mouth opening...
And then collapsed like a sack of bricks. I breathed a sigh of relief, then remembered my bleeding mother on the ground. I didn't know basic first aid, so I did what they teach you to do in school: I called 911.
"Hello, this is the 911 emergency dispatch line, thank you for calling." A woman's voice came through the phone.
"I-I need help!" My voice broke. I was crying.
"Alright, I need your name and address, as well as the problem." The woman replied.
"M-my name is Per-Persephone Jackson," I said through sniffles, before rattling off my address to her.
"Alright. And what is the problem?" It was amazing that she seemed calm with a crying girl on the other end of the line.
"M-my stepdad stabbed my mom i-in the arm... and I don't know what to do!" I was close to hysterics.
"Alright. And what is the current state of your stepfather?" She asked.
"He's un... unconscious... I hit him with a frying pan..."
"Alright, do you have anything that can soak up the blood?" She asked me. I looked around wildly before spotting a clean dishtowel.
"Y-yes..." I replied.
"Alright. Wrap it around the wound. Whatever you do, do not touch the knife." I followed her directions. "Now sit still, and wait for the ambulance to come to your apartment. They will be there in about three minutes." Suddenly, I realized I couldn't stay.
"I-I can't..." I told her, my sobs dying down.
"Why not?" She asked.
"I can't stay here anymore. This is all my fault!" My voice started rising toward the end. I put down the phone, ignoring the woman telling me to stay on the line.
I rushed towards my room. If what the woman said was true, I had about two and a half minutes before the ambulance, along with the police, more than likely, arrived. I rushed to my room and grabbed my most valuable possessions. All that I really had were my backpack, which was full of thousands of dollars my mom had set aside for me at birth, which she told me was from my dad, as well as a few golden coins at the bottom that I didn't recognize. The bag held nothing else, so I stuffed it to the brim with clothes and keepsakes. I threw on my silver sweatshirt, and my sea-green necklace, which were my two favorite colors.
Above my bed was a special bow that seemed to shine whenever I had my window open during the night. It was very light, and seemed to always be my size. I had rarely used it though. I also had a special sea-green quiver, which was full of sharp arrows. The arrowheads were made of a material that seemed like bronze, but wasn't quite bronze. Mom had told me it was another gift from my dad. She hadn't told me specifically, but she had said that I would know when to use them. I wasn't certain, but now seemed like a pretty good time. The quiver was also nigh weightless, even though if I plucked out an arrow, it seemed slightly heavy. Done packing, I rushed the front door, and slipped on my combat boots, hooking my sneakers onto by backpack with a carabiner clip. Once again, my silver backpack seemed weightless, even though it was full. I decided not to worry about anything.
I ran out the front door, and started down the stairs, but I could tell I had taken too long. Footsteps were starting to pound up the stairs.
Apollo as a Random Emergency Doctor PoV (Surprising, huh? Literally for anyone who actually reads these, I guess.)
As my team and I headed up the stairs, I knew I was in for a long night. First, we had been dispatched at around 1:30 AM to go to some apartment in Manhatten, which still had traffic past midnight for some god-forsaken reason. Then, we were told there was an unconscious man, and a heavily bleeding woman in the top it all off, the call had been made by some scared girl who apparently couldn't stay on the line for whatever reason.
In the back of the ambulance, we reviewed the appearance of the girl. The file had her name, height, age, a picture, and a physical description of her. I had to say, she was actually a real cutie. She was fourteen, but only 4'7". She had auburn hair that went down past her neck, and an actually adorable face. With a few freckles, and a small nose and mouth, she reminded me of my sister. But her eyes were simply amazing.
Silver pools of light, with tiny speckles of sea green. I could've sworn that she was exactly what Arty and Uncle P's child would've looked like if they ever had a kid.
But that is never going to happen. Poseidon is married, and my sister is an eternal maiden.
... Right?
Anyway, as we were rushing up the stairs, I bumped into this girl in a silver hoodie. It seemed like she was trying her best not to look suspicious, but she was standing very rigidly, and with my godly vision, I could see blood pooling from the side of her head. Of course, the gentleman I am, I had to say something.
"Did you know that you're bleeding?"
Persi's PoV
I stared at the paramedic. After a few seconds, I replied, "Did you know you have a job to do?" and tried to walk past him. He grabbed at my hood to stop me, but in the process, simply pulled it off, revealing my bow, quiver, and backpack, as well as my auburn hair. I heard his gasp of surprise, and took that as a sign to start running. I jumped over the railing, ignoring the shouts from above, and dashed into the tree line.
My live in the wild had now begun, and there was no more stopping.